by saying: "We will live in peace with Penn and his children as
long as the moon and the sun shall endure." Then the two parties
exchanged gifts, the Indians bestowing upon the Quaker a wampum belt
on which a paleface and a redskin were represented hand in hand.
This belt is still carefully kept by the Pennsylvania Historical
Society.
The elm under whose branches this interview took place was carefully
preserved for many years. Even during the Revolutionary War,
sentinels mounted guard over it, so that none of its branches should
be cut off for fire wood. But in 1810 it was unfortunately blown
down, and a monument, bearing the inscription, "Unbroken faith," now
marks the spot where Penn and the Indians first met.
Before crossing the Atlantic, Penn had written out laws for his
province, granting his people the right to do as their conscience
bade in religious matters, to vote, and to be tried by a jury of
twelve men. He now added that if there was any trouble between an
Indian and a settler, the case was to be tried by six Indians and
six colonists, to make sure that justice should be equally well
meted out to both parties.
When the Quakers first left England for the New World, people made
great fun of them, declaring that, since the fighting Puritans,
Dutch, and Virginians had such hard times with the Indians, the
Quakers, whose religion forbade them to return blow for blow, would
soon be killed. They were greatly mistaken, however, for none of the
colonies suffered less from the natives than Pennsylvania.
The Friends were so gentle that they treated every one kindly, and a
little story will show you how good and generous even the children
were. We are told that a little girl sat at the door of a log house,
one day, eating her milk porridge. Her mother heard her softly say
again and again: "Now, thee sha'n't;" then, "Keep to thy part." As
no one was near, the mother stole up on tiptoe to find out to whom
the child could be talking. Imagine her surprise when she saw her
little girl sharing her supper with a big black snake, which ate
from one side of the bowl while she helped herself from the other,
patting him on the head with her spoon whenever he tried to come
over to her side!
It was Penn himself who founded the first town in his grant. He
called it Phil-a-del´phi-a, or the "City of Brotherly Love," because
he wished all the people to live in peace together, like one family.
The first houses were built of wood; then brick dwellings were seen;
and each cottage was soon surrounded by a neat garden, in which
bloomed gay flowers. Many Germans came over before long, at Penn's
invitation, and settled just north of Philadelphia, in what is still
known as Ger´man-town.
These were joined by other colonists, from different parts of
central Europe; and as the English did not perceive any difference
between the various forms of the German language and that used
in Holland, they generally called all the newcomers Dutch. These
settlers managed to understand one another, however, by using a
strange dialect, which is still heard in some parts of Pennsylvania,
where it is now known as "Pennsylvania Dutch."
As Pennsylvania had no seacoast of its own, Penn was glad to buy
some land south of him,--called Del´a-ware, in honor of one of the
governors of Virginia. Having placed his colony on a good footing,
Penn went back to England. He had spent much money in doing this,
and was no longer as rich as he had once been. Besides, his opinions
got him into trouble, and we are told he went to prison rather than
pay what he thought an unjust debt. For a time he was even deprived
of his lands; but they were finally given back to him, and he and
his heirs ruled Pennsylvania until the Revolution.
[Illustration: Old Swedish Church at Wilmington, Delaware.]
It was within the limits of Delaware that the Dutch, as we have
seen, had built Fort Nassau. They were driven away by the Indians,
and that part of the country belonged for seventeen years to the
Swedes, who called it New Sweden. At the end of that time, however,
it again fell into the hands of the Dutch, who, about eighteen years
later, finally gave it up to the English, with all the rest of the
New Netherlands.
Thus within less than fifty years Delaware had completely changed
hands four times, when it was purchased by Penn as seaboard for his
state. For a time it was part of Pennsylvania; but after 1703 it had
an assembly of its own, and it is counted as one of the thirteen
famous English colonies founded in North America.
XL. THE CATHOLICS IN MARYLAND.
When Henry VIII. made a change in the national church, many
Catholics became discontented, and longed to leave England and
settle elsewhere. Later, Lord Bal´ti-more decided to make a home for
Catholics in the New World. As Newfoundland, where he tried to plant
his first colony, proved too cold, he came to Virginia, in 1629. But
the Virginians, being Church of England people, refused to receive
any Catholics in their midst.
Thus driven away from Virginia, Lord Baltimore crossed to the
opposite side of the Po-tō´mac. He asked for a grant of land here,
which was given, in 1634, to his son. He promised to pay the king
two Indian arrows every year, with one fifth of all the gold and
silver he found. This tract was called Ma´ry-land, in honor of the
Catholic Queen Henrietta Maria, and prosperous settlements were made
at St. Marys and at An-nap´o-lis. Unlike their Protestant neighbors,
these Catholic colonists would not allow any one to be persecuted
for religion, and as all except Jews could vote, people of every
faith soon came thither, and Maryland was rapidly settled.
This colony, however, had its troubles, too. There was first a
quarrel with Virginia, and then several Indian wars; and when
William became King of England, he took the government away from its
Catholic proprietor. But later on, Baltimore's heirs, having turned
Protestant, recovered their rights, and were left in control of the
whole province until the time of the Revolution. Maryland's chief
city, Baltimore, was founded about 1729. It was named in honor of
the Catholic founder of the colony, and it still contains thousands
of faithful Roman Catholics.
Owing to mistakes made in drawing up the different grants, the
boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland became a cause for
disputes which lasted about fifty years. Several times surveyors
were sent out from England to settle the quarrel, and the line they
finally drew is generally known as the Mason and Dixon line. At the
end of every mile, these surveyors set up a stone post, bearing
on either side the initial of the colony it faced; and every five
miles, a larger pillar, with the arms of both families, the Penns
and the Baltimores.
While all the changes we have been describing were thus taking
place in the rest of the New World, Virginia had not been standing
still. Indeed, it had prospered so greatly that it had become the
most important of all the colonies. But its progress was interrupted
several times. For instance, three years after the founding of the
House of Burgesses, a quarrel between an Indian and a settler ended
in a murder, which brought about an Indian war.
Powhatan, who had vowed that the sky should fall before the Indians
broke peace with the Virginians, was now dead. The savages, hating
to see their former hunting and fishing grounds occupied by the
planters, now attacked the scattered settlements, and murdered
men, women, and children. Even Jamestown itself would have been
surprised, and all the colonists slain, had not a friendly Indian
given the people timely warning.
Terrified by this Indian outbreak, the colonists no longer dared
occupy their plantations, and either crowded into a few of the towns
or went back to England. In a short time the colony thus found
itself reduced by half, although the Indians were beaten in the war.
Some years later, seeing that the Indians were rising again, and
that nothing but severe measures could save the settlement, another
war was begun, and all the hostile Indians were either driven away
or slain.
When King James I. heard that the colony was failing, he fancied
that the trouble arose from poor laws and bad government; so he took
away the Virginia charter, and made the colony a royal province, in
1624. But although he boasted that he would soon make new and better
laws for Virginia, he never did so. His son and successor, Charles,
after whom one of the capes at the entrance of Chesapeake Bay had
been named by the first settlers, also found too much to do at home
to trouble himself about the Virginians, who were sorely tried by
tyrannical governors.
Still, although they lived on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean,
the colonists loudly insisted that they had the rights of free-born
Englishmen. They therefore said that the governors the king sent
over could not tax them or make new laws, except through the House
of Burgesses. But as the governors would not always agree to this,
quarrels arose, which gradually became more and more bitter.
XLI. THE OLD DOMINION.
It was while Governor Berke´ley ruled Virginia that Puritan England
revolted against and beheaded King Charles I.; and soon after that
they made Cromwell Protector of the new republic, or Commonwealth,
of England. When these tidings came to Virginia, many of the
colonists were indignant. Just as in England, the people sided for
or against the king, the Puritans being called "Roundheads," while
the Royalists claimed the title of "Cav-a-liers´."
The latter were by far the more numerous in Virginia, and as they
prided themselves upon their great loyalty, they invited Charles
II., son of the beheaded king, to come over and rule their colony,
which they now affectionately called "the Old Dominion." Charles did
not accept this invitation, and Parliament, deciding that the colony
should obey England, sent out a new governor. The latter, upon
arriving in Virginia, declared that, according to the new Navigation
Act, Virginia, like all the rest of the colonies, would have to send
its produce to England in English ships.
This law was very unjust, and the English captains who came into
the bays and up the rivers for cargoes, now charged higher rates to
carry produce to England. They could not get good prices for it in
England, had to pay high prices for the goods they bought there,
and, besides, asked heavy freight rates for bringing these goods
back to the planters in Virginia. The colonists thus got little
in exchange for their tobacco and other produce. They were also
greatly annoyed, for even the goods they wished to send to the
neighboring colonies, or to the West Indies, had to be carried first
to England and then back again, unless they paid a heavy duty.
This was unfair, and the Virginians did not like it. Still, it did
not prevent their colony from increasing rapidly, for many of the
Royalists, finding life unbearable under Puritan government in
England, came out to America. Here they talked a great deal of the
royal family, prided themselves upon being true to the exiled king,
and when the news finally came that Cromwell was dead (1658), many
Virginia planters openly rejoiced.
Two years later, the royal family was restored in England, and the
House of Burgesses recalled Governor Berkeley, who had ruled there
in the days of Charles I. But the Burgesses warned him that, while
they were loyal subjects of the king, they were fully determined
to make their own laws, and that his duty would consist mainly in
seeing that these were duly obeyed.
Although the colonists thought their troubles would end when the
king had come to the throne, they soon found out that Charles II.
was a worse master than Cromwell. Always in need of money, the king
not only kept up the hated Navigation Act, but, as Virginia had
become the property of the crown in 1624, he now made a present of
it to two of his friends, Lords Cul´pep-per and Ar´lington (1673),
telling them they might keep it for thirty-one years, and have all
the money they could make from it.
These two noblemen, hearing that there were about forty thousand
people in the Old Dominion, fancied they would be able to tax them
as much as they pleased; but the colonists, who were proud of their
rights and homes, grumbled at this change of owners, and said they
would obey no one except the king.
Jamestown was then the only city in Virginia; but each plantation
formed a small colony by itself, and people traveling from place
to place were always hospitably entertained in the houses they
passed. The estates were so large and scattered that there were very
few schools; but the richest colonists hired private tutors for
their children, and sent their sons to the English universities to
complete their education. In this, Virginia was different from the
Northern colonies, and the greater part of her people were ignorant.
Thinking they would therefore be easier to rule, a Virginia governor
once boasted of the fact that they had neither printing press nor
free schools, and added that he hoped they would not have any for
the next hundred years!
XLII. BACON'S REBELLION.
IN the midst of the trouble caused in Virginia by the change of
owners, and the increased taxes they imposed, the Indians, who had
been quiet for about thirty years, suddenly came back. They said
that while they had sold the land to the English, they still had
the right to fish and hunt wherever they pleased. A dispute about
this question again resulted in a murder, which--for history often
repeats itself--occasioned another war.
Since Berkeley took no steps to defend them from the savages, who
boldly attacked outlying plantations, the Virginians determined
to act themselves, and chose Nathaniel Bacon as their leader. But
Berkeley declared they were rebels, and hearing that they had
started, he would have pursued them, could he have raised troops.
[Illustration: Bacon's Rebellion.]
When the Virginian army came home in triumph from the first brush
with the Indians, Bacon was called before the governor and tried as
a rebel. But the jury promptly acquitted him, to Berkeley's great
disgust. The governor waited until war broke out again, and when
Bacon was too busy fighting to offer any resistance, he declared him
an outlaw. This accusation, added to grievances about the taxes,
caused a short civil war in Virginia, during which Jamestown was
seized by the rebels, and Berkeley fled.
But the governor returned as soon as Bacon was called away, and
prepared to defend himself in Jamestown. Hearing of this, Bacon came
back, ready to lay siege to the city. The angry governor ordered out
the cannon to shoot the rebels; but we are told that Bacon, having
captured the wives of Berkeley's men, now put these women in front
of his little force, knowing their presence there would prevent any
bloodshed.
[Illustration: Ruins of Jamestown.]
Thus routed by a "white-apron brigade," Berkeley fled a second time;
and Bacon, fearing he might return and fortify the city, burned
Jamestown to the ground (1676). The first English city built in
the United States thus became a heap of ruins, and no trace of it
now remains, except a small part of the old church tower and a few
gravestones.
Shortly after the burning of Jamestown, Bacon fell ill and died,
his followers sadly crying: "Who is there now to plead our cause?"
Their helpless grief was so great that Berkeley took advantage of it
to return. He then began to punish all those who had taken any part
in what is known in history as "Bacon's Rebellion," or the "Great
Rebellion" in Virginia.
In fact, Berkeley showed himself so cruel that many of those who
had borne arms were condemned to die. Once, when a prisoner whom
he particularly hated was brought before him, he angrily cried:
"You are very welcome; I am more glad to see you than any man in
Virginia; you shall be hanged in half an hour." This prisoner was
executed, and so many others shared his fate that King Charles,
hearing how Berkeley abused his power, indignantly cried: "The old
fool has taken away more lives in that naked country than I for the
murder of my father."
XLIII. A JOURNEY INLAND.
When Berkeley was called back to England in disgrace, none of the
Virginians were sorry to see him leave. But the new governor sent
out by the owners was no better, for he laid such heavy taxes upon
the people that the king finally had to take back the gift he had
made to his friends. Virginia, therefore, once more became a royal
province. But shortly after, King Charles died, and his Catholic
brother, James, had to put down a rebellion in England before he
could occupy the throne in peace. James was very resentful; so many
of those who had taken up arms against him were sentenced by a harsh
English judge to be shipped to Virginia and sold there as slaves
for a term of ten years.
But although both king and judge had decreed that none of these poor
prisoners should be allowed to buy their freedom, the Virginians
generously set them at liberty as soon as they landed. The governor,
seeing it would make trouble if he tried to oppose the Virginians in
this, made no great objection, and after that no white men were ever
sold as slaves in America.
Before long, too, another improvement was made; for the Virginians,
feeling that it was necessary to have a college of their own, sent
a messenger to England for a charter. Although the king's ministers
swore at this man at first, and told him that Virginians ought to
think of nothing but tobacco, permission was finally granted, on
condition that two copies of Latin verse should be sent to England
every year. The college thus founded--the second in our country--was
called William and Mary, in honor of the king and queen who
succeeded James II. in 1688.
Some years later, Governor Spots´wood built himself a beautiful
house in Virginia, which he ornamented with large mirrors. But the
woods were still so thick there that we are told a deer strayed into
the parlor one day. Catching a glimpse of his reflection in a tall
mirror, he rushed up to the glass and dashed it to pieces with his
horns!
This same Spotswood was of an adventurous turn of mind, and wishing
to see what lay beyond the Blue Ridge Mountains, he once set out
on a journey of exploration. It is said that he and his jolly
companions crossed both the Blue Ridge and the Al´le-gha-nies,
coming home after a ride of about one thousand miles, delighted
with the beautiful country they had found on the other side of the
mountains.
They sent such a glowing account of this journey to King George
I. that he knighted Spotswood, giving him a coat of arms bearing
a golden horseshoe. Some writers add that, in memory of this long
ride, Spotswood founded an order of knighthood in Virginia, which
included all those who had made part of the expedition, and their
direct descendants.
XLIV. THE CAROLINA PIRATES.
You remember, do you not, how Raleigh tried and failed to plant a
colony on Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina? For about
seventy-five years after this, that part of the country was left to
the Indians and the few settlers who strayed there from Virginia.
But in 1663 Charles II. gave a large tract of land to several of
his favorites, who were called the lords proprietors. To flatter
the king, they named the country Carolina, the very name which the
French had given it many years before, in honor of their monarch,
Charles IX.
Now, the lords proprietors wanted to make this colony different from
all the rest by placing all the power in the hands of the rich and
noble, as was arranged by a code of laws drawn up by John Locke. But
these laws could never be used, and to induce people to settle in
Carolina at all, the lords proprietors had to promise them large
tracts of land, freedom of thought, and a share in making the laws.
This granted, Quakers, Huguenots, Puritans, Scotch, Irish, English,
Swiss, Germans, and Dutch came there in great numbers. In the north,
the colonists devoted themselves to lumbering, tobacco-raising, and
the production of tar, pitch, and turpentine; but in the south,
they grew a great deal of rice, indigo, and tobacco, and many sweet
potatoes.
At first, the French Huguenots tried to raise silkworms in their
new colony; but they soon had to give up this attempt, because the
climate proved too damp. Still, although unfavorable for silkworms,
Carolina proved just right for the growing of rice. The first seed
was brought to the governor of Charles´ton by a Mad-a-gas´car ship
captain, who bade him plant it in marshy soil. There the rice grew
so well that before long all the swamps were turned into rice
fields, and Carolina rice is now famous in all parts of the country.
Some fifty years later, a planter's daughter tried to raise indigo.
After several failures, she succeeded in doing so, and indigo was
raised in Carolina until the time came when cotton paid better.
Thanks to its rice, tobacco, indigo, and marine supplies, Carolina
became so rich and prosperous that, although it was the twelfth
English colony, it soon outstripped several of the rest. The
Carolina planters, growing rich, bought many negroes to work their
large tracts of land, and spent the greater part of the year at
Charleston, where they led a gay life and entertained a great deal.
Carolina was also noted for her bold seamen, for all along the
coast there were many small harbors, in which pirates could hide.
They sailed out of these places to attack vessels on their way to
and from the West Indies, and often secured much booty. The best
known of all the Carolina pirates was Blackbeard. Like Captain Kidd
of New England, he is supposed to have buried great treasures in the
sand along the coast, and there are still people foolish enough to
try to find them.
The Spaniards, who still held Florida, had always been jealous of
the English. When the latter came to settle in Carolina and Georgia,
the Spaniards, hoping to drive them away, stirred up the Indians to
war against them, and sometimes took part in the fights themselves.
Besides, many disputes arose about the boundaries, both parties
being equally inclined to claim all the land they could.
In 1729 the lords proprietors ceased to have any control over their
lands, which, divided into North and South Carolina, became two
royal provinces. These prospered much during the following years,
and by the time the Revolutionary War began, North Carolina ranked
fourth in importance among the colonies.
We have now seen how twelve of the English colonies were planted on
our coast, and before traveling northward once more, to see how New
England was getting along, you shall hear how the thirteenth and
last colony was founded, in 1733.
James O´gle-thorpe, a kind-hearted Englishman, perceiving the
suffering of debtors, who were then imprisoned like criminals,
longed to give them a chance to begin life over again. Thinking they
could best do this in the New World, he asked George II. for a tract
of land there, promising to hold it in trust for the poor. This
territory was called Georgia, in honor of the king; and Oglethorpe,
having assembled his colonists, sailed for America.
Arriving at Charleston, he went southward and founded the city of
Sa-van´nah. Before doing so, however, he had an interview with the
Indians of that section, from whom he bought the land. In exchange
for his gifts, they presented him with a buffalo robe lined with
eagle feathers, saying: "The eagle signifies swiftness, and the
buffalo strength. The English are swift as a bird to fly over the
vast seas, and as strong as a beast before their enemies. The
eagle's feathers are soft, and signify love; the buffalo's skin
is warm, and means protection: therefore, love and protect our
families."